A Lesson In Love – Part 3: The Trojan Horse

So I laid down in bed tonight to the sound of the bass-line of some U2 song and thought to myself, “Well, guess this is the night.” I contemplated for about 5 minutes whether I was really going to have the courage to go over there and do it, but decided that the Lord wasn’t gonna let me sleep if I didn’t. I grabbed the bottle of wine from the counter and started praying over that thing, and boy if the power of the Holy Spirit didn’t flow through me into it then I don’t know what happened. I prayed that it would be a trojan horse, and that it would be a seed planted that would lead to their salvation. 

So I set out, and discovered they were sitting just out of earshot from their fence, and out of view. I yelled a couple of times but they couldn’t hear me over the music, and I didn’t feel right just barging into their yard uninvited. I prayed for a few minutes, waited a little longer, and was about to give up when I decided to go around to the other side of the house and noticed it allowed me to walk right up to where they were sitting. The wife had gone inside, so I introduced myself to the husband and told them that I had heard the music and just wanted to wish them a good evening, and bless them with a bottle of wine. He looked kinda surprised for a moment and said, “Oh you didn’t have to do that… Do you want a beer?” I thanked him, but said I had to be up early… And that was that. 

I’m excited to see what God does next.

Chris

 

Breakthrough…

We’re after it, but we don’t have it yet.

This thing has been REALLY hard. We’re on day 11, and I’m just as hungry this morning as I was on day 2. Here’s the thing though: I’m really excited, but I was so close to giving up last night, because I’m frankly a little frustrated. I don’t mind not having food, as long as I can have God, but over the past 11 days I felt like I’ve had neither. So as I’m lying on my bed contemplating whether this is even worth it last night, I breathed in through my nose and all of a sudden smelled a strong fragrance of flowers – no idea what kind though. I breathed again and it was gone. I thought I must have been imagining it until a couple minutes later I smelled it again for one breath, and then gone. This happened 2 or 3 more times as I laid there, and I just got the sense that we were getting really really close to breaking through – close enough to smell it! This wasn’t just an ordinary smell. It was the same thing I experienced at the Calvary Campground: An aroma that permeated your nostrils and throat, but wasn’t abrasive. It was so strong you could taste it, but it wasn’t irritating. It was heavenly!

Lord, let us endure this thing, even if it means being hungry every day for the next 29 days, we’re not giving up!

Chris

 

From the Mall

So I write this while sitting on a cooler a few feet from the stage of The Call DC ‘08. Things get rolling here in about 2 hours, and there’s not nearly as many people here yet as I would have expected.

This is the morning of the 9th day of our fast, and all 3 of us have been struggling pretty bad. We were hoping it would have gotten much easier by now, but our resolve is set and we’re going to see this thing through.

The Lord has really been speaking to me a lot about transition, and I believe that for me this fast marks the transition that I’ve been waiting for. I don’t know what that looks like, but I’m expecting some really great things from God over the next season of my life.

 

A Lesson In Love – Part 2

So today I’m going to stop somewhere on my way home from work and pick up a nice bottle of wine… Then the next time I hear the music I’m going to go give them the wine and wish them a good evening. They may not turn the music down, but it’ll certainly soften my heart and kill them with kindness.

Thanks for the idea Dustin.

Chris

 

A Lesson In Love

So we have neighbors who like to sit at their pool till all hours of the night drinking some beers and having a good time just about every night. Nothing wrong with that I suppose, except that they also like to have music during their revelries… Again, nothing wrong with that because they don’t keep the volume up too high. However, their sub appears to have been placed in the perfect spot to reverberate right into my house, just to the point where you can only hear it if you’re in the bedroom and its quiet. ie. You’re trying to sleep.

I kindly asked them if they would just turn the bass down on Saturday night, and the woman didn’t like that idea very much, insisting that since they were the 5th house on the block, they felt as if they owned the neighborhood and didn’t much care for some young guy coming over to their house at 9pm asking them to turn down the music. (They actually said that, even the part about owning the neighborhood.) They begrudgingly agreed that they would turn down the bass some, but I went back to bed to the thumping beats of some 70’s rock anthem.

As I’m lying here tonight contemplating whether calling the cops would do any good since its not after midnight and I don’t think they legally have to turn it down yet, I have this nagging suspicion that my inconsiderate neighbors are actually an answer to prayer. I’ve asked the Lord to teach me how to love more, and this sounds like a way He would choose to show me how. I feel like there is an answer to this conundrum in love, that will minister to my neighbors and hopefully give me an opportunity to introduce them to Jesus.

I don’t know what it is yet, but I’m going to find out!

Chris

 

Pressing On and Pressing In

This morning is pretty tough. It started out pretty well with a good time of prayer at church, but afterwards I was completely drained and dead tired. Even a nap in the car didn’t help. Oh well though, this is worth it. Pressing in to God is always worth it. 

I had some good times with the Lord yesterday when I was able to sense His presence very strongly, sometimes to the point of being overwhelming. Looking forward to that increasing!

Chris

 

Headaches all around

I’m glad to be wrapping up this day as well… I spent the morning doing some work at church, which left me pretty drained. A 2 hour nap this afternoon helped out quite a bit, but I spent most of the day feeling pretty lightheaded and exhausted. I hung out with my brother, who is fasting (and hopefully blogging) with us, this afternoon and evening and we had to ride in a car with our younger brother while he was eating a sandwich and fries from Chik-Fil-A. Talk about torture, the smell was just heavenly. I also developed a headache this evening, but it doesn’t sound like it was anything close to yours Dustin.

I’ve been finding myself getting ‘bored’ rather easily, because I’m fasting from entertainment in addition to food so I can really focus in on my walk with the Lord. So this evening I was laying down just asking God to draw near and bring me into a closer relationship & friendship with Him and fill me up more and more with the Holy Spirit. As I did I began to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit and a peace just came over me. My headache went away, as did my hunger for quite a while. As I laid there just basking in His presence, both of my hands began to burn with an intense heat. I asked the Lord what it was, but didn’t get a clear answer. It wasn’t just in my head though, it was happening in both hands simultaneously.

—
Chris

 

The Best Part of Waking Up…

You thought I was gonna say something about Folgers, right?

So I awoke today to the lovely aroma of bacon & eggs wafting through the bedroom. My wife then realized how cruel that was and furiously lit every candle in the house, but it was too late. The cat was out of the bag!

Actually though it didn’t bother me too much. I wasn’t very hungry upon waking up this morning. Today is going to be a good day!

 

‘Lunchtime’ Dream

So I went to my car over ‘lunch’ today to pray and take a nap, and awoke from an interesting dream:

In the dream I was in a full-size conversion van, sitting in the corner of the parking garage, and as I was getting out of the van I look over to see my mom talking to an elderly couple in the caddy-corner parking space, sitting in a light-blue Cadillac. She wraps up the conversation and they start to drive off, and then I notice that she had been talking to Bob & Bonnie Jones. I run up to their car as they’re driving off and stop them asking, “Are you Bob Jones?” He seemed rather surprised, and then said yes, and I hurriedly asked if he could stay for a few minutes and answer some questions for me. I wanted to ask him some questions about my future ministry, the end times harvest, etc. So Bonnie backed the car up and parked, and Bob told me to meet him outside, and he went and sat down on a park bench. I went back to the van for a moment to get something (don’t remember what), then grabbed a container of apple sauce only to put it down at the last minute as I left the van. By this point, I realized I was dreaming and the dream became very lucid.  I was walking toward Bob, who was sitting on the bench, and in the dream I ‘remembered’ that others had met Bob Jones in a dream and he had taught them things, and I was hoping he was going to teach me some things too. I was walking through the park towards him, and then underneath a swing-set with the park bench immediately on the other side. As I walked under the swing-set it was like I was walking through some portal, because my body started vibrating with electricity… Then I woke up, my body vibrating with electricity, really disappointed that the dream was cut short.

 

A Prayer For Our Generation

I read this yesterday and it really struck me as something that needs to become the cry of our hearts for our generation:

Isaiah 63:15-64:5

Look down from heaven and see, from your holy and beautiful habitation. Where are your zeal and your might? The stirring of your inner parts and your compassion are held back from me. For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.

O Lord, why do you make us wander from your ways and harden our heart, so that we fear you not? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage. Your holy people held possession for a little while; our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary. We have become like those over whom you have never ruled, like those who are not called by your name.

Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence – as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil – to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence! When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts fro those who wait for him. You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time and shall we be saved?

I long to see God restore His glory to His church. To stretch out His hand and move once again on the earth in a mighty way. To raise up His church as a spotless bride, having no blemish or wrinkle, ready to receive her King.